


#NotMyShiro

by umbraja



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Humor, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith's a little gay for both Lance and Shiro but he won't admit it, Multi, Protective Keith (Voltron), Sassy Pidge | Katie Holt, Season/Series 03, Shiro (Voltron) is a Dork, Star Trek References, Star Wars References, keith is so done
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 03:07:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14071578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umbraja/pseuds/umbraja
Summary: Keith had spent weeks willfully ignoring the odd behavior that made Lance worry about Shiro but once he allowed himself to actually look he couldn’t deny a feeling in his gut that something wasn’t right. The feeling had been there all along, ever since they got Shiro back. Or thought they did. Keith had just denied it. He wanted Shiro back so badly that he let himself be fooled by this pale imitation.“How do we prove it though?” Keith frowned at Lance as if he might have the answer.“Ask questions only the real Shiro would know?”“Yeah. That’s not obvious.”“Just gotta be smooth about it.” Lance swiped a hand in a smooth arc.“Great idea.” Keith deadpanned with a flat look. “Just I’m the only one with any secrets like that and we’ve already established I am about as smooth as a chainsaw.”





	1. Strange Behavior

**Author's Note:**

> This started off as a request from StormBerryMC for some fluffy angst with protective Keith defending/comforting Lance from a verbally abusive Shiro which makes them realise that’s Not Shiro. And then it got away from me. Twice. 
> 
> I originally posted the first draft of the first part in my requests collection but sitting at over 18k words and not even completely finished yet I think it's probably a bit too big to fit into a ficlet collection. 
> 
> So I've broken it up into three parts (cuz trilogies are classic, right?) and am reposting them as a separate fic. If you read the first draft not much changed but typos and formatting so you can skip to the second scene of chapter 2 to find the new stuff.
> 
> I really hope to have the last part posted in the next week or so but then I'd planned to only do one part and then only two, so who knows. It might turn into sixteen by the time I'm done.
> 
> The first part was actually written before Season 5 released and now I kind of hate myself for not setting it after Season 4 but Black Paladin Keith is just so ripe for the dark humor and plot devices that I don't want to change it.

Keith had been so relieved, so happy to see Shiro again he didn’t even question the near impossible circumstances of the rescue. They found the needle in the infinite haystack and plucked him from the endless void of slow death with seconds on the clock. Yes, it took a while to pull off and in the end it wasn’t really even him that found Shiro. The Black Lion did it. But Keith was OK with that. He’d have been OK with pretty much anything so long as it meant getting Shiro back. Keith was so beyond ready to hand over the mantle of leadership that he didn’t even care what kind of shuffling would be required to put Shiro behind Black’s controls where he belonged. Keith didn’t even think about it, really. Not at first. Not until Lance came to talk to him and pointed out the six Paladins for five Lions math problem. That had been a blow. 

He put on a good face for Lance, talked strong and confident like he needed to as a leader. Keith had learned a few things. But he’d hardly slept that night trying to figure out what they should do about it. Of course Shiro would take Black but Keith didn’t want to push Lance out of Red unless he could have Blue back and Allura really was doing well though maybe she wouldn’t mind giving up Blue but she was doing so well maybe they could shuffle one of the others? By the time he passed out, Keith had convinced himself that Pidge could just make Allura her own Lion (once they tracked down that interdimensional comet Lotor ran off with) and then they’d have an even better chance of beating Zarkon. The biggest problem his sleep deprived mind could see with this plan was what color to make it. He refused to acknowledge pink as an option.

Not once had Keith even considered the possibility that the Black Lion would not take Shiro back. It was so far outside his realm of understanding that he wasn’t entirely convinced he was actually awake when Shiro told him he would have to go out instead. Keith was pretty sure he was just having a particularly realistic nightmare right up until he saw what had become of the comet. If this were a nightmare it would have been a fucking pink Lion. Because Keith’s subconscious has a twisted sense of humor. 

To make matters worse, the ship that was the comet they might have built a Lion from got away. Of course it got away. It was always going to. No matter what he did. Keith just couldn’t get a break. He was so fucking. . .

“Useless,” Shiro’s voice finished that thought and Keith jerked at the sound, pulled out of his thoughts to stare at the empty hallway around him. Ok that’s new. Not the voice, Keith had been hearing Shiro’s voice in his head for years but it was supposed to be the voice of reason, giving good advice and cheesy motivational phrases to keep him centered. Keith had plenty of other voices in his head to put him down. He didn’t need Shiro joining in on that.

“You’re not even holding it right. Here,” Shiro’s voice continued to make less sense the more it said. “Ok. Try again.”

Keith was starting to question his sanity when he heard the clash of. . . well, whatever their bayards were made of against metal. It was a familiar sound. He’d heard it a thousand times. Even the scrape and thud that followed was somewhat recognizable as someone getting thrown to the ground. It was the little “Oomph” that gave it away and made Keith realize the sounds weren’t in his head. They were coming from the training room he found himself standing just outside of. Keith didn’t really remember heading toward the training deck but he was so tired he’d been on autopilot most of the day so wasn’t all that surprised by it. He was surprised by what he heard though.

“Hopeless. That wasn’t even two seconds,” Shiro derided and Keith frowned at the bitterness in his tone. That was a sound reserved for enemies like Sendak or Keith’s last foster parents. “I could have killed you three times before you hit the ground.”

“I’m trying, Shiro. I’m just,” Lance’s voice paused to gasp a few quick breaths. They must have been training together. From the sound of it things weren’t going well. “This is hard.”

“Keith could have blocked that when he was twelve,” Shiro’s voice sneered and Keith was caught between a reflexive sense of pride he felt whenever Shiro said something good about him and feeling kind of bad for Lance that he was being compared to twelve year old Keith. Lance didn’t have the context to know that Keith was already a brown belt by then. 

“I know. You keep saying,” there was a bite in Lance’s voice that Keith hadn’t heard pointed at Shiro before.

“And you keep dropping your sword,” Shiro bit back. “Honestly, Lance. You should have at least learned that much by now. I’ve never had a student take so long to grasp the most basic concepts. That bruise should be enough to remind you to guard your center but you keep finding new ways to leave yourself open every time. It’s a wonder you’ve survived this long with all the fighting we do. But then I guess you’ve had everyone else to protect you.”

“Well. Yeah. We’re a team, right?” Lance’s voice was thin and tight. “You’ve got my back. I’ve got yours.”

“How can you have anyone’s back if you can’t even guard your own center, Lance?” Shiro’s voice cut, sharp and cold. “If you just spent half the time training as you do lazing about then maybe you wouldn’t need protecting.”

“Wh-what?” Keith could hear the warbling doubt in Lance’s voice. “Shiro I am training.”

“You call this training? This is getting your ass kicked. You have to actually learn something for it to count as training. Or do you enjoy being a burden to the rest of us? Is it fun being completely useless?” Shiro crossed the line between tough motivation and verbal abuse. Something Keith never thought he would see. . . er, well, hear. Lance didn’t have a comeback for that and Keith decided it was past time to step in.

“This isn’t a game, McClain,” Shiro growled like a drill sergeant as Keith walked through the door. Shiro’s back was turned but Keith could see the way he towered over Lance who seemed to have shrunk several inches in shame or fear or both. Neither of them noticed him come in but Keith noticed the glisten of tears on Lance’s lashes. 

“Shiro,” Keith snapped in a voice he hardly even recognized. It sounded more like Shiro’s Dad voice than his own. He had to pause a moment to collect himself from that before going on. It also gave the man time to turn and face him. There was a cold steel in Shiro’s eyes that Keith had only seen a few times and never directed at him. It nearly made him flinch but a glance to the tear that dripped down Lance’s cheek put fire in his gut and Keith stood tall, pulled out his new found Dad voice and demanded, “What are you doing?”

“Telling the truth,” Shiro’s voice was calm and he relaxed his stance as he spoke, taking a step toward Keith. At least it put him farther from Lance. “This is a war. We can not afford to coddle them.”

There was logic in the statement. Keith had thought the same thing himself more than once but always got outvoted when the others complained of draconian training regimens. He kind of hated Pidge for teaching Lance that word. Draconian. Keith was pretty sure he didn’t realise it was referring to a Greek legislator and not a fucking dragon. Focus Keith. What would Shiro say? . . . to Shiro? Keith shook his head with a frustrated grunt and finally came up with, “We shouldn’t break them either.”

Shiro just arched a brow and gave him a look that said ‘I know you agree with me’ while Lance balked.

“W-wait. You didn’t deny it being true!” Lance’s voice cracked but he stood up straighter and fixed Keith with a watery gaze. “You don’t. . . agree with him. Do you, Keith?”

This was quite possibly the worst thing Lance could have done. Keith was still reeling from the jab that he’d fucked up by not denying Shiro’s slander and those teary eyes were doing things to him that he really did not want to think about but kept getting distracted by so Keith was completely unprepared for the question and did the worst thing he could have in return. Blinked like a dumb fool and said nothing.

“You do,” Lance breathed, covering his mouth with a hand as another tear started to roll down his cheek.

“No!” Keith yelped in panic and lost control of his mouth. “You’re not _completely_ useless.”

“Not completely?” Lance nearly squeaked but at least there was more offense than hurt to it this time. Keith could work with offense. It was better than crying any day.

“Oh come on, Lance.” Keith tried for nonchalance but knew it was probably closer to haughty. “We all know you’re not a close combat fighter. Even the red bayard knows that.”

Lance’s eyes went wide and his pupils nearly disappeared as his nostrils flared. Anger. Keith knew how to deal with anger. Still it hurt a little when Lance yelled back, “You think I’m useless!”

“I didn’t say tha-” Keith tried to defend but Lance cut him off.

“Yes you did! You think you’re better than me! Don’t deny it. You always have.” At least this was familiar ground. Once riled up Keith could use Lance’s stupid rivalry to get him to agree to just about anything by simply taking the other side. Pidge calls it reverse psychology. Keith calls it effective. If only Shiro kept his mouth shut. But of course not.

“He is,” Shiro said it like an indisputable fact. Both boys swiveled owlishly to stare at him so the man clarified. “Keith is better than you. At everything.” Keith was torn between pride and blind rage so couldn’t form an argument before Lance huffed a tight laugh.

“Seriously!? Even that mullet?” Lance tried to deflect the pain with humor but Shiro just shrugged carelessly.

“Everything that matters.”

“What the hell, Shiro?” Keith recovered enough to speak but didn’t manage the Dad voice again. “You can’t just say that.”

“And you can’t just agree with it!” Lance blindsided him with a teary screech then pushed his way out the door, choking back sobs Keith wasn’t sure he didn’t cause. Shock, confusion and guilt warred for Keith’s attention so he gave it all to anger and turned on Shiro with a snarl.

“What the fuck?”

Shiro didn’t even blink. Just smoothly provided his answer, “He is not cut out for this.”

That pissed Keith off even more so he snapped like a child. “Yeah well, you don’t seem to care when it comes to me!” 

“You are better than him.” Shiro said it like a truth but this time Keith didn’t feel the pride.

“No. I’m not,” Keith shook his head with a deep frown, crossing his arms over his chest to ground himself before he fell over from the surreality of. . . all this. “Lance would have been able to keep me from running out.”

Shiro just shrugged again. “You wouldn’t have run.”

“I storm out of almost every serious conversation I’ve ever had!” Keith threw his hands up in frustration. “Like this one. Right now. Because I don’t have time for this shit!” He ended with a growl and didn’t even look back as he turned on a heel then stormed out as promised. If Shiro tried to stop him he didn’t try very hard.

* * *

Usually Keith went to the training room to take his frustrations out on the gladiator bots when he stormed out of a conversation so he wasn’t quite sure where to go now. Before everything went to shit he might have taken Red out for a spin but he didn’t have that kind of relationship with Black. Piloting her just stressed him out. He might have talked to Shiro, that usually helped, but this was about Shiro. He was being too hard on Lance. Keith understood. Lance was. . . difficult and Shiro had been. . . tense since they got him back. He wouldn’t talk about what happened. Pidge whispered PTSD so they gave him leeway but this was too much.

It was all too much. 

Keith wasn’t cut out for this. Leading. He didn’t know what to do. So he found himself stalking down the halls with nowhere to go when he caught sight of Lance staring out one of the big windows into space. He’d stopped crying but the broken expression on his face was just as heartbreaking. Keith never thought he would miss the darring glint to those blue eyes or that stupid grin Lance used to wear. It had been too long since he’d smiled. Keith just wanted everything to go back to the way it was. Of course he had no idea how to get there. He didn’t even know what to say to comfort his best friend. Wait. When did Lance become Keith’s best friend?

“Come to rub it in some more?” Lance must have sensed him somehow. Keith blinked and took a few moments to register the words, distracted as Lance crossed his arms over his chest and tensed his shoulders but didn’t turn around, just watched Keith’s reflection in the glass. “Well?”

“Wha- No!” Keith finally caught up.

“You agreed with him!” Lance flailed his arms, turning to glare at Keith who put up his hands defensively.

“I did not.”

“The bayard,” Lance swiveled his head in a sassy way that Keith was pretty sure would break his neck if he tried it.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he settled for shaking his head with a sigh. “It’s just you’re a lot better with guns than swords.”

“Better,” Lance folded his arms again with an indignant pout then looked away to mutter, “but still not good.”

“Lance,” Keith took a few steps closer with a hand held out slightly, almost reaching but falling short. “You’re our sharpshooter. No one can shoot like you. And we’d all be dead if you didn’t have our backs.”

There was a brief hesitation. Lance almost looked at Keith but turned away instead. “I’m useless close quarters.”

“That’s what I’m there for. To keep them off you.” Keith took the last few steps, closed the distance between them and leaned slightly around, trying to catch the other boy’s eye. Lance frowned but gave in and let him. “We can’t be good at everything,” Keith offered a soft smile. “You know I’m pretty shit at the talking. Right?”

Lance huffed a weak laugh. “Yeah. Obviously.” 

“See. Not perfect.” Keith waved a hand at himself as he stepped around Lance to stand in front of him though it put them very close with the limited space to the window. Lance quirked a tiny grin as he nearly purred.

“Oh, I never said you were. Not with that mullet.” He even reached up to lightly flick the offending hair.

Keith rolled his eyes but this was good. This was Lance. “You gonna be ok?”

There was a brief hesitation but Lance nodded. “Yeah.” Then he pursed his lips with a daring glint to his eye. “You still think you’re a better pilot?”

Keith blinked, hesitated, then took a chance and quirked a wry little smile as he rolled a wide shrug. “Well. . . I mean. . . It’s kinda my thing.”

“I thought you were the hot-head loner,” Lance challenged with a huff but he was still smiling.

“Pilot. Hot-head pilot,” Keith corrected then tilted his head. “And fighter. I guess.” He paused to swallow a sudden lump when Lance’s smile started to fade. “You’ve got all the cool.” He threw out a Hail Mary compliment. Lance blinked and for some reason that made Keith feel a little light headed.

“You think I’m cool?” Lance asked after a breathless moment. Keith struggled to form words for a tick then just vomited what he had to break the silence.

“Chill. As in smooth. You can talk to people. And make sense of things. And actually communicate what you mean which is something I am currently failing to do.” Smoothe Kogane. So smoothe. He had to look away and fold his arms over his chest to keep himself from doing whatever all that hand movement had been as he talked. Keith must have been more tired than he thought.

“Oh wow, Mullet.” Lance was really smiling now and just the sound of it made Keith look back. He was not prepared for the softness he saw mixed in with the usual bravado. “That was almost cute.”

“Cute?” Keith’s voice broke like a fucking teenager (nevermind his actual age) and he just hoped Lance didn’t notice.

“Awww. Now you’re blushing.” Oh, that’s even worse. Quick, deny it!

“I am not.”

“Yes you are,” Lance practically sang, leaning in close - way too close. Keith sucked a deep breath and tensed all over for the proximity but at least Lance was happy now. That was worth a little embarrassment. Right? Sure.

“Whatever.” Keith pushed past Lance, stepping away to get some space so he could breathe. He didn’t go far though and turned back to give the other boy a serious look. “We good?”

“Yeah,” Lance softened the tease out of his grin as he nodded. “We’re good.”

Keith nodded then lost control of his mouth again. “I’m gonna go die of shame now.”

“Have fun with that.” Lance choked back a laugh but Keith didn’t get far before Lance called after him. “Hey. Keith?”

“Yeah?” Keith turned back to watch Lance catch up with a worried frown.

“Is Shiro. . .” Lance hesitated a moment to glance around the hall and rub his hands together anxiously before huffing out. “I don’t know. Has he been acting. . . kinda strange to you?”

Keith blinked for the question and did pause to consider but shrugged it off quickly. He really did not want to accept the possibility that Shiro might not be OK so made excuses, “He’s under a lot of stress.”

“Yeah. . .” Lance frowned. “It’s hard getting rejected by your lion.”

Keith twitched. He’d not even considered that. More importantly though, “Blue didn’t reject you, Lance. Red needed you.”

“I know. I know,” Lance sighed. “But it still hurt. And Shiro doesn’t even have a Lion now. He did get rejected.”

“He didn’t get rejected. He gave up.” Keith couldn’t keep all the bitterness out of his voice for that. Lance stared, surprised.

“Keith. I know you’re not good at the talking but, really?”

“He only tried once,” Keith huffed. “I had to get blown out an airlock into space for Red to accept me.”

Lance started to argue then blinked. “Wait. What?”

“Not important,” Keith didn’t feel like explaining that. “The point is Shiro hasn’t really tried.”

“Wow. You really are oblivious.” Lance half muttered and Keith gave him a slight glare for it but Lance put up his hands. “Shiro’s been in Black’s hangar almost every night since he got rejected. She won’t even let him touch her. Puts up a particle barrier whenever you’re not there.”

“What?” Keith didn’t know that. “How do you know?”

Lance just shrugged, “Pidge set up cameras all over the ship. She gets an alert whenever there’s movement in the hangars.”

“Huh. . .” Keith was not sure how to take that invasion of privacy.

“Yeah. I’ve pretty much given up on the concept of privacy around here,” Lance sometimes spoke to Keith’s thoughts and it was a little creepy but did make talking to him a lot easier. “So long as they get my good side,” Lance added with a purr and struck some stupid pose. Of course that would be Lance’s concern with this.

“Is that why you’ve been walking backwards in the north hallway?”

“Only when I’m going to the lounge.”

Keith just stared. It was a very Lance thing to do. Change the way he walked to keep his ‘good side’ toward a camera. As if Lance had a bad side. . . Focus. “Ok. That’s a thing. I’m gonna go talk to Pidge about civil rights violations now.”

* * *

Trying to decide which side was Lance’s bad one kept Keith distracted from heavier subjects he really did not want to think about as he walked into Green’s hangar to find Pidge tinkering with something. She was completely absorbed, glancing between her three screens and poking the sleek little black box with a messy jumble of wires and tools Keith knew better than trying to understand. Pidge’s projects were magic to him and there was absolutely no point in even attempting to. . . hey. 

“That’s Galra tech,” Keith didn’t really mean to say it out loud but apparently he was too tired to keep control of his mouth today.

“Figured that much out already,” Pidge grumbled without even looking up. She did at least add a little, “Thanks.”

Keith hesitated a moment, leaning over to get a better look before asking, “Where did you get it?”

“Shiro.” She still didn’t look up.

“Shiro gave you this?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

Pidge huffed a frustrated sound for all the questions and finally looked up. “It’s some sort of fancy ultra-secure datapad he got from some Rebels. Said it might have information on my family. If only I could get into it.” She kicked the thing lightly and Keith flinched but she just went on. “Damn thing is tighter than a klaznark. . . whatever that is.” She paused to actually look at the boy in front of her, took in the tension in his shoulders and way his eyes were fixed on the box like it might bite him. That caught her attention. She glanced between it and Keith then asked her own question, “Why?”

Keith shook himself to focus and just stared at Pidge a moment, not really sure what to say. What he was thinking made no damn sense. Shiro would never do that. So Keith doubted himself. He shook his head and brushed it off. “Nothing.”

Of course Pidge was not satisfied with that. “Keith?”

He hesitated. It was stupid. He must be wrong. But Pidge wasn’t going to stop until he told her so he explained. “I just saw Kolivan use something like that once. But it wasn’t a datapad.”

“What was it?”

Keith considered not saying but. . . “A bomb.”

Pidge twitched then turned wide eyes on the thing. “Oh. . . uuh. . .” She brushed the boot mark off it’s case. “I should probably be more careful with it.”

“Yeah.” Keith nodded with a frown then Pidge asked the obvious question.

“Why would Shiro give me a bomb and call it a datapad?”

“I must be wrong.” Keith gave the obvious answer, “They probably just look alike.” 

Pidge considered this a moment, leaning in to type at her screens with a little nod. “Yeah. . . but a smart bomb would explain some of this code. And the odd structures. I thought it was some sort of advanced crystalline data storage system but. . . well. This is Galra not Krypton so. . .”

“Shiro probably doesn’t know.” Keith was quick with the excuses.

“Yeah. . . If it is a bomb.” Pidge paused to type then shook her head. “He could have got it off a Galra sympathiser just pretending to be a Rebel. Figured we wouldn’t know the difference.” She looked up with a coy grin, “They must not know we’ve got a Galra on the team.” Keith forced a weak smile for that and Pidge huffed a laugh. “Good catch. But now I’ve got some really important work to do making sure this thing doesn’t blow up. Soooo. . .” she flicked a hand to shoo him out.

“Yeah,” Keith muttered and backed away but she called as he turned.

“Hey, Keith. Can you get Hunk for me? I need his help with this.”

“Sure,” He nodded then huffed a sigh and just tossed out there. Casual like. “Oh, yeah. Could you not put cameras around the ship without talking to everyone first?”

The light of Pidge’s screen glinted on her glasses when she looked up to shrug. “That kind of defeats the purpose.”

Keith just stared. He did so not want to deal with this. “I am going to wilfully ignore the implications of that statement and continue thinking of you as an innocent little sister. Ok?”

“Whatever lets you sleep at night.” She huffed a little laugh then added with a gentler smile, “Middle Bro.”

* * *

That smile and being called a brother by someone he knew for a fact would literally go to the ends of the universe for her brother kept Keith going all the way to the kitchen. You’ve gotta focus on the little things when everything else is failing you. Or you’re failing it. . . Focus Keith. He shook himself out of his thoughts just in time to see Shiro disappear around the corner at the end of the hall. He had a steaming mug in one hand and open datapad in the other, reading as he walked. Keith couldn’t help a soft smile at the sight. The memory of how Shiro used to walk while reading all the time when they were younger. It was a bad habit that made him run into a few walls and one time a flagpole but Keith had always liked Shiro’s nerdy side. Proof hidden under all that muscle he really was a dork. If only it were a paperback sci-fi novel instead of what was almost certainly reports from allies requesting more aid. Still, Keith didn’t want to disrupt the moment so he left Shiro to his reading and stepped into the kitchen to look for Hunk.

The smell of something sweet lingered in the air and Lance lounged against the counter nursing a steaming mug as Hunk put away whatever ingredients he’d most recently transformed into something no doubt spectacular. 

“Hey, Big Guy.” Keith announced his presence to get their attention then fulfilled his purpose. “The gremlin’s asking for you.”

“Hey! That’s my thing.” Lance set his mug down with the complaint then hopped off the counter. “Since when do you call Pidge that?”

“Since she earned it.” Keith deadpanned and got arched brows from both of them for that.

“Should I make you some hot chocolate too?” Hunk asked gently.

“Uuh. . .” Keith glanced between them and the scattered ingredients on the counter then shook his head. “No thanks.”

“Oh come on, Mullet. Live a little.” Lance scooped up his mug again and took an exaggerated sip, smacking his lips to emphasise its goodness.

Keith was not to be swayed. “That stuff is bad for you.”

“But it’s sooo good for the soul.” Lance practically crooned, leaning back against the counter as he did. Keith just stared with a flat expression that probably looked grumpier than intended due to all the sleep deprivation.

“It’s Ok, Lance.” Hunk came to the rescue. Bless him. “You can’t force hot chocolate. That ruins the magic.”

The what? Keith blinked and was just tired enough to ask. “Magic?”

Hunk nearly flinched for the question, obviously not expecting it. Then he huffed a weak laugh and rambled. “Yeah, well. Not actually magic. Not like . . . yeah. But my moms always used to make us a cup whenever I got in fight with my sister. It’s like a warm, sugary salve. You just can’t stay mad with hot chocolate in your belly.”

“Huh. . .” Keith drug a skeptical look over the ingredients on the counter then blinked at the milk. That was real milk. Cow milk. From that stupid cow Lance had inexplicably picked up in the Space Mall. Hot chocolate made with real milk. Keith’s sluggish brain seemed be going somewhere with this but it took him a moment to put together. Oh. He glanced to the door then asked with a bit of urgency. “Did you give some of that to Shiro?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s the whole point.” Lance answered for Hunk who just frowned at the question. “We had hot chocolate and made up.”

Keith didn’t bother to hide his cringe then asked just to make sure, “Was there milk in it?”

The question threw Lance off so it was up to Hunk to answer with a shrinking, “Yeah?”

“Oh no,” Keith breathed then leapt for the door. Shiro didn’t have his helmet on so Keith couldn’t just call him and this wasn’t the kind of thing to put on the intercom. He’d have to catch up and warn him.

“Hey! What the cheese?” Lance called after, jumping for the door to follow Keith who explained once they were in the hall, away from Hunk, who would only blame himself.

“Shiro’s lactose intolerant.”

Lance’s eyes went wide. “Oh crap.”

“Exactly.”

* * *

The run to Shiro’s room was fast and adrenaline kept Keith’s mind off everything that wasn’t the immediate threat. It was good. The sharp focus of danger. Options narrowed to fight or flight and everything was so simple. It’s the time between that Keith had to worry about. Standing still let him doubt. Apparently it made Lance doubt too.

“Are you sure he’s really lactose intolerant?” Lance asked once they’d established Shiro was not in his room and now they didn’t know where to look.

“Yeah.” Keith pushed open Shiro’s closet compartment thing just to make sure he wasn’t hiding in there for no reason at all.

“Ok but. . .” Lance leaned against the wall next to him. “How sure?”

Keith gave him a flat look. “Very.”

“But how do you know?”

Keith held back a growl but his voice was still sharp when he answered, “Because the last time Shiro and I snuck out of the Garrison together we shared a plate of curry but instead of coconut milk they used sour cream so Shiro defiled my bike on the way back.”

“Defiled your bike?”

“Use your imagination.”

“Ew. . .” Lance physically recoiled from the thought then froze. “Wait is that the same bike we-”

“I had to change the seat.”

“Double gross.” Lance frowned then watched Keith as he checked under the bed like they were looking for a lost hamster and not a full grown man. “Wait,” Lance straightened up at a new thought. “You and Shiro snuck out of the Garrison together? On that bike?”

“Focus, Lance.” Keith snapped. He did so not have time to get into that. Especially not with Lance. “We have to find Shiro.”

“Well. By now it’s already too late. He’s probably finished the cup.”

“Yeah I know. But we can at least warn him so he doesn’t defile the ship.”

“Ah man. I did not need that mental image.”

“Image. . . Pidge,” Keith ran to the door and punched the communicator pad to make a call into Green’s hangar. “I need you to find Shiro for me.”

“I am not your personal assistant.” Pidge replied tersely as Lance leaned into the com at Keith’s side then tried a gentler tactic with a smooth voice to charm her.

“It’s important, Pidgey.” 

“Uugh. Fine.” They heard typing and Keith gave Lance an appreciative smile for his skills of persuasion though it was probably more annoyance than anything that really got the job done. “He’s on the training deck.”

“Does he look ok?” Keith tried to smooth his voice a little but wasn’t very good at it.

“Well. He’s keeping up with three training bots so, yeah.”

“We might make it.” Keith stepped away with a quick, “Thanks, Pidge.”

“Make what?”

Lance started to answer but Keith jerked him away from the panel and drug him down the hall before he managed. They were in too much a hurry to explain. Also. “This is going to be embarrassing enough for Shiro. He doesn’t need us telling everyone else about it.”

Thankfully Lance didn’t fight him on that though he did point out, “You do realise she is going to be watching.”

“I don’t have time for this.”

* * *

The observation deck of the training room was on the way and Lance suggested they could use the com in there to call Shiro since that would be faster than going all the way down. Thankfully the man was still fighting robots like it was nothing when they got there. Keith felt a wave of relief and reached for the com button only to have Lance catch his hand.

“Are you really sure Shiro is lactose intolerant?”

Keith shot him a glare and jerked back his hand. “How many times do I have to say it? Yes. Very”

“He looks fine.” Lance waved at the training room below.

“For about another two minutes.”

“Look. Keith.” Lance gave him a serious expression. That always took the bottom right out of Keith’s stomach. “I know you’ve got a huge blind spot when it comes to Shiro but. . . I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him drink milkshakes.”

“What? No.”

“Yeah. I gave him one just after he got back and at least a few more since. Hunk made that hot chocolate right in front of him. I mean he’s been kinda off lately but he’d have to be asleep not to notice the milk.”

Keith wasn’t sure where Lance was going with this but he could still make excuses. “Shiro’s been under a lot of stress. He was probably just not paying attention.”

Lance frowned then shook his head. “You’ve been gone a lot with your Blade Buddies, so you’re not seeing it but. . . I’m worried about him, Keith.”

“Then get out of the way and let me warn him.”

“Not about that and you know it. You just don’t want to face it.”

“Face what? He’s stressed. It is very stressful being in charge. I would know.”

“He’s not in charge, Keith. You are.”

Keith flinched for that then huffed petulantly. “Yeah, well. I don’t want to be.”

Lance gave him a flat stare for that. “Just look me in the eye and tell me everything is Ok with Shiro.”

Keith grit his jaw and almost did. Out of pure spite, he almost recited the words but. . . But he didn’t. “What are you trying to get at Lance?”

“You can’t say it, can you? As much as you don’t want to see it, you still feel it. You’re all about instinct after all and your instinct is telling you something’s wrong.”

“Alright. Fine.” Keith threw his hands up, stepping away from the com panel. “Something is wrong. But I don’t know what to do about it. Shiro won’t talk to me anymore. I’ve never been good at the talking anyway. I’ve always just. . . done things. We never needed words. Now it’s like all I do is fuck up and he just keeps pushing. We don’t agree on anything anymore and I keep deferring to his judgement but I take too long or don’t do it right so it all goes to shit. And he just. Keeps. Pushing. He doesn’t listen when I tell him I don’t want to do this. I can’t do this. And he won’t even let me do it! He keeps giving orders from the sideline and then putting it off on me to make the hard decisions. That’s fucking bullshit. Something I thought Shiro would never do. He’s better than that. But he’s doing it. He’s doing that and he’s being a dick to you and hasn’t used his Dad voice in. . . It’s like he’s not even the same person anymore.”

Lance gaped a bit for that onslaught of talking. Keith probably hadn’t said that much at once in front of Lance, let alone to Lance, the whole time they’d known each other. And it was some heavy shit too. Lance deserved a moment to collect himself. Though he could have come up with better than, “War can change people, Keith. None of us are the same-”

“No. Lance.” Keith cut him off. “I mean really. It’s like he’s not Shiro anymore.”

“Oh. . . Kay. That’s maybe going a little far.”

“Is it though, Lance? I mean. Look at him.” Keith waved to Shiro casually wiping sweat of his face after putting the bots down. “He should be defiling that floor right now.”

“Well. . . maybe Kaltenecker’s not a real cow?” Lance shrugged. “Maybe Space Cow milk doesn’t have lactose.”

“Really?” Keith gave him a flat look.

“Is that any more crazy than your Shiro’s Not Shiro theory?”

“If it was just the milk. But it’s not. You’re the one who started this. He made you cry earlier.”

“Uh. No. He _almost_ made me cry. And then you _did_ make me cry.”

Keith hid a cringe for the accusation but argued, “You were already crying Lance.”

“It’s not crying till there’s sobs.”

“Whatever. The point is Shiro would never say that stuff. And he wouldn’t give Pidge a bomb saying it was a datapad either.”

“Shiro did what now?” 

“Yeah.” That was pretty fucked up. But it wasn’t the only questionable thing Shiro had done lately. “He also kept us from getting that new ship of Lotor’s. He insisted it was one or the other between the ship and that teledove when I could have done both if he’d just shut up for like five seconds. I’m pretty sure I could have jacked that ship when we first saw it. I’ve stolen plenty of vehicles. And he knows it.”

“Why do I get the feeling that ‘stolen plenty of vehicles’ isn’t talking about Galra ships?” 

“Focus, Lance.” Keith paused for attention then got to the point. “We all just agree and do what he tells us to because he’s Shiro. But what if he isn’t?”

Lance jerked at the question then just stared a moment before shaking his head. “We’d be able to tell if it wasn’t Shiro.”

“Would we though? You said it yourself. I’ve got a huge blind spot for Shiro and even though you noticed he was acting strange you’re just worried he’s overwhelmed or whatever. We all just implicitly trust him without question because he’s Shiro. But we don’t have any proof of that, not even a scan. He was half dead when we found him but no one questioned that he didn’t want to go in the healing pod cuz PTSD stuff. We just let him sleep it off in his room. Hunk made soup. No one even considered it might not really be Shiro.”

“Because Black found him. Duh.” Lance tried to laugh it off.

“The Black Lion that was Zarkon’s Lion? The same one that by our best guess teleported Shiro to fuck knows where in the middle of a fight with Zarkon? That lion?”

“Dude. . . She’s your lion now. Cheese. You have really got to work on that relationship.” 

“I didn’t choose Black!” Keith hissed, too tired and on the edge of a paranoid breakdown to control his anger. “I don’t fit her. And why the fuck hasn’t she accepted Shiro? Huh? Because she knows it’s not Shiro. She won’t even let him touch her. Not after that first time he tried. She must have realized it then.”

“Whoa.” Lance held up his hands trying to calm Keith like a wild animal. “Come on, man. Slow down.” 

“No, Lance. I’m serious. Listen. Why won’t she take him back?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she likes Galra.” Lance shrugged and got a hot glare for it. “What? You asked me. Why don’t you ask her?”

“She doesn’t answer. She never answers me. Black is. . . I don’t know. I’ve not been able to bond with her. Not like with Red.”

Lance frowned and an awkward silence fell between them till he broke it with a mutter. “She misses you. Red does.” 

Keith blinked and gave Lance a sorry look. “I miss her.” 

“I miss Blue.” Lance looked away with a frown.

Keith narrowed his eyes at the pain on his friend’s face then clenched his fists. “It isn’t Shiro. He wouldn’t do this.”

“It looks just like Shiro. Scar and everything. How could they-”

“Druid magic. Shapeshifting alien. Cybernetic replicant.” Keith counted off the possibilities.

Lance cringed a little for each one then added, “Evil Clone.”

“I’m pretty sure they haven’t had time to grow a clone.” Keith tried to reassure him at least on that but Lance wasn’t having it.

“You don’t know that!” 

Keith arched a brow then shook his head with a sigh. “How do we prove it though?”

“Ask questions only the real Shiro would know?”

“Yeah. That’s not obvious.”

“Just gotta be smooth about it.” Lance swiped a hand in a smooth arc between them then struck a pose.

“Great idea.” Keith deadpanned with a flat look. “Just I’m the only one with any secrets like that and we’ve already established I am about as smooth as a chainsaw.”

“That’s. . . an interesting metaphor but I get your point.”

Keith rolled his eyes then looked out the window, down at the empty training room. “He’s gone.” 

Lance leaned closer to the glass then looked back. “Maybe the lactose kicked in?”

Keith glared at him for it then shook his head with a sigh. “I’m gonna check the bathroom. You go get Pidge to search the rest of the ship.”

“Yeah. Cuz she totally doesn’t have cameras in there too.” Lance laughed but it trailed off uncomfortably at the end and they traded an uncertain stare.


	2. Prove It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is why it's rated Teen (other than the pervasive swearing that's in all my stuff) but this one gets a bit pervy. Nothing explicit, just the innuendos are strong enough I figured best to be safe. There is a shower scene.

Keith tried not to think about any of the many unsettling things he’d encountered recently as he searched the bathrooms then locker room and shower near the training deck for Shiro. Instead he tried to guess just how many people this castle was built to hold. They wouldn’t need locker rooms just for five Paladins not even with a royal family in tow. And the place was huge. Keith had never really thought about it before but they could station an army in this thing. Why didn’t they? Maybe he should bring it up at their next strategy meeting. Right after outing the imposter pretending to be his brother. Allura’s going to love that.

“Shiro’s not in any of the bathrooms,” Keith informed Green’s hangar as he walked in.

“I could have told you that.” Pidge huffed from her screens.

Keith gave the girl a flat look but refrained from growling and just asked, “Do you have him then?”

“He’s in the shower. You missed him by like 30 seconds. It was kind of amusing to watch.”

Keith stared a moment glancing between Pidge sitting behind her array of tech and Lance perched on Green’s paw behind her. Lance gave him a little shrug as if to apologize for her. But there was just so much wrong right now Keith didn’t know where to start. He settled on asking, “You were watching?”

“I’m always watching. Listening too.” She patted the headphones around her neck.

“So you heard.” Keith didn’t really ask. At least that meant she wouldn’t need an explanation.

“Yeah. Interesting theory. Hard to prove without tipping him off to the suspicion. If Matt were here we could nail him easy but. . . yeah. Shiro’s been keeping me busy trying to decode a fucking bomb instead of actually finding the one person with the knowledge and acting skills to catch him in his stupid lies.” 

Keith arched a brow for that. “So you believe me?”

“It’s a compelling case,” Pidge shrugged. “But all the evidence is circumstantial. We need proof before we go any further with this.”

Keith frowned for that then looked around them. “I thought Hunk was helping you.”

“I sent him out when stuff got heavy.” Pidge explained then Lance added.

“Don’t want to scare the Big Guy. You know. Not till. . . well. We’re sure.”

“That.” Pidge nodded. “And he really can’t keep a secret.”

Lance just shrugged in agreement.

“So.” Keith glanced between them. “How do we prove it?”

“Short of getting him into a healing pod?” Pidge adjusted her glasses as she considered then shrugged. “Catch him in a lie and hope he doesn’t notice. Take a blood sample and hope he doesn’t question it. Check his scars and hope they did a sloppy job matching them.”

“Scars.” Keith grasped at that. “He’s in the shower now.”

“That he is,” Pidge purred with a wry grin then typed into her computer to bring up a video feed.

“Holy crow, Pidge!” Lance gaped but she was not phased.

“Never know when you’ll need a camera. Like right now.”

“We’ll deal with that later,” Keith grumbled. “Can you zoom in?”

“Of course.” She clicked a few keys then made the image of Shiro’s naked back side even larger. Lance looked everywhere but the screen as he started to fidget then asked a good question.

“Do either of you know what Shiro’s scars actually look like?”

“I can run an analysis against the healing pod’s records.” Pidge had an easy answer. She’d no doubt thought this through before suggesting it. “Just need to get some good shots.” Or maybe this was just an excuse to compile blackmail photos. Oh Keith did so not want to be responsible for this. What if he was wrong? What if the scars matched and this really was Shiro? What if it wasn’t? Keith was starting to spiral when Shiro turned around and Keith saw something that caught his attention.

“Dude. Staring.” Lance nudged his elbow. 

Keith glared at him then leaned in and pointed to a spot on the screen. “There. Zoom in on that.”

Lance flicked a look to the spot then choked. “On Shiro’s crotch?”

“His hip.” Keith corrected. “The mark there.”

Lance frowned deeply but Pidge just shrugged and typed away muttering, “Embiggen. . . embiggen. . . embiggen. . .” as she progressively zoomed in until Keith told her to stop.

“There. Can you make that. . . better?” He pointed at a fuzzy blotch nestled in the hollow of Shiro’s left hip.

“Sure. Altean surveillance technology is fucking magic.” She typed again and sharpened the image until it clearly showed a roundish sort of shape in rusty red against Shiro’s skin. Keith clenched his fists and straightened up with a hard glare.

“That’s not Shiro.”

“Oh. . . Kay.” Lance arched a brow. “And you can tell that from looking at his crotch?”

“The scar, Lance.” Keith corrected but Lance wasn’t having it.

“The scar on his crotch.” 

“His hip.” Keith tried not to growl but he really did not want to argue about this of all things. Of course Lance did not stop.

“If it’s under the briefs it’s either crotch or ass. That’s not ass.”

“Whatever.” Keith threw a hand up. “The scar is wrong.”

“How the fuck do you know?”

“Because I put it there,” Keith hissed and that at least made Lance stop. 

Though not quite shut up. He still drawled a very eloquent, “Uuuuh” as his mouth gaped. 

“Ok,” Pidge cut in before Lance managed to recover and this got worse. “That’s a real interesting conversation you’re having but can you prove it?”

“You don’t believe me?” Keith turned on her with an almost hurt look.

“I believe that you put a weird scar on Shiro’s crotch but how can you be sure that’s not it?”

Keith gave her a flat look for that but she had a point. It was a reasonable question. She had no way of knowing how Keith could be so certain. He really did not want to explain that. But. . . Keith heaved a defeated sigh then hesitated just a moment longer before he pulled down the top of his pants to show his own hip. There was a mark in the exact same place as the spot on Shiro but it was sharper on Keith. Raised edges of an old scar circled a complex pattern of indentations and ridges stained a dark, dried blood color.

“Wha?” Lance continued to gape.

“Fascinating.” Pidge leaned in and adjusted her glasses. “Is that a brand?”

“What the actual fuck, Keith?!” Lance recovered enough to screech. Keith shook his head with a sigh.

“It’s a long story.”

“Welp.” Pidge spared him from explaining that. Bless her. Then took a quick snapshot before letting Keith pull up his pants. “I’m gonna run the rest of these scars through the healing pod’s records and see if anything else doesn’t match up.” She turned back to her screens to do just that. Keith and Lance looked at each other uncomfortably. Lance was the one to ask.

“What if it they don’t match?” 

“Then I guess we have our proof.”

* * *

Proof is funny stuff. It can be different things for different people. Keith had spent weeks willfully ignoring the odd behavior that made Lance worry about Shiro but once he allowed himself to actually look he couldn’t deny a feeling in his gut that something wasn’t right. The feeling had been there all along, ever since they got Shiro back. Or thought they did. Keith had just denied it. He wanted Shiro back so badly that he let himself be fooled by this pale imitation. 

It was absurd that he’d ever fallen for it. There were so many little things. Details no one else would notice but that Keith had once spent an unhealthy amount of time obsessing over so was quite confident that yes, the fall of Shiro’s hair _has_ changed, and the way he stands _is_ stiffer now. The more he looked the more he saw. Keith had spent years forcing himself not to notice those things about Shiro but now that they were gone it was painful to look at the man. That’s all the proof Keith needed.

But Pidge wasn’t willing to open the can of worms that would be telling Allura about this without something more concrete than Keith has a feeling. Even the scar wasn’t enough for her until the healing pod’s records could confirm that Shiro should in fact have the same scar as Keith. This, of course, pissed Keith off but not nearly as much as Lance’s fidgeting while they waited by the healing pods as Pidge ran her analysis.

“We should get DNA, right?” Lance just couldn’t take the silence. “I mean that would at least rule out cyborg or Galra that’s been magiced to look like Shiro. And shapeshifter. So we’d be left with evil clone. Or the real Shiro. Which at least narrows down our options. So-”

“How are we going to get a DNA sample without him knowing?” Keith cut in just to make the rambling stop.

“I don’t know. Hair?” Lance shrugged then arched a brow at Pidge when she scoffed.

“DNA doesn’t work like that. You’d have to get a follicle to get a useable sample and I’m pretty sure he’d notice you pulling out his hair.”

Lance did that cute little pouty thing. . . wait. Cute? “They got DNA off a toothbrush in CSI once.” Lance came up with another stupid idea while Keith was sorting that out.

“Seriously?” Keith failed to hide the growl in his voice. He was just too tired for this shit.

“Actually that might work.” Pidge pushed up her glasses but did not look up from her screens as she spoke. “If you can get it soon after he brushes his teeth I might be able to pull a decent sample.”

“Seriously.” Keith’s shoulders drooped as he deadpanned with a flat expression. 

“Well it’s that or I rig the drain in his sink to go into a collection- hey.” Pidge leaned back from her screens at the inspiration. “That’s not a bad idea.”

“Toothbrush sounds easier.” Lance huffed even crossing his arms like a petulant child.

“Does it?” Keith turned a flat look on that damn pout.

“Yeah.” Lance tossed a hand up like he was brushing away the accusation. “I can distract him while you hide in the vents so when I get him out of the room you just crawl out, switch toothbrushes, then scamper back here to deliver the goods.” He practically mimed the actions and Keith wasn’t sure which was worse, that it really was cute or that Lance called it ‘the goods’ like a cartoon mafia thug. More importantly though.

“Why am I the one that has to crawl through the vents?” Keith addressed the part of the plan that did not require too much introspection.

“Because I’m taller.” Lance said it like the most obvious thing ever. Keith balked.

“By half an inch!” 

“Please.” Lance rolled his eyes and flapped a hand at him. “It’s at least an inch. You can’t count the hair.”

Keith’s eye twitched. It was no more than half an inch and that really depended on their shoes. In their armor it was more like they were the same height. But Keith knew how that argument ended so he just huffed and folded his arms with a glare. Curse Coran and his stupid height based numbering system. “That still doesn’t make sense. By that logic Pidge should-”

“I operate the tech.” Pidge cut him off from volunteering her for vent crawling duty. “You’re the ninja wannabe. Besides, Lance is better at distractions. You just blow things up.”

Keith really wanted to argue with that but. . . yeah. He couldn’t. “Fine. But this had better be all the proof you need.”

“If the DNA doesn’t match it’s obviously not Shiro.” Pidge just shrugged and went back to her typing.

“But if it’s an evil clone then the DNA would still match.” Lance wasn’t going to let the clone theory drop.

Keith shook his head with a sigh. “It’s not a clone.”

“You don’t know that.” Lance huffed as if he knew anything about it.

“That’s not-” Keith cut himself off. Arguing with Lance was like beating your head against a brick wall. It just made you look stupid and all you got was a headache. So he turned away and asked a more important question. “Pidge. Where’s NotShiro now?” 

Pidge flicked a few keys and cycled through her video feeds to answer the question. Keith tried not to think about the fact that she had a camera in Shiro’s bathroom. “He’s in his room.” She answered after a few moments of searching. “Looks like he’s dressing down for the night.”

Keith watched the image of what looked like Shiro pulling on a black t-shirt as he walked into the little bathroom attached to his room. They could see everything from that angle. Including the bed. “You and I need to have a serious conversation about privacy violations. Later.”

Pidge just shrugged then turned a coy little grin on him. “You need to get your tight ass into a vent cuz it looks like NotShiro is about to brush his teeth.”

Keith missed a beat for that then just shook his head. “I am going to ignore so much of what you just said.”

“That’s why I said it,” the gremlin purred with a little wave.

“C’mon, Lance.” Keith turned away from that, giving Lance’s shoulder a little push to get him going. “Time to show me your acting skills.”

It took Lance a moment to recover from what Pidge just said but he shook it off then grinned as they walked into the hall. “So. Do you want a Buddy Buddy ‘Heya man, how you doin? Just thought I’d come by for a chat’ thing” Lance slapped Keith’s shoulder and put on a pretty good bro face as he stepped around to stop in front of him. “Or the Damsel in Distress ‘Help me Shiro, you’re our only hope’ bit” Lance somehow managed to curl in his shoulders, lower his stance to actually be shorter, and then delivered the line in a perfect, breathy Carrie Fisher. That did things to Keith he was not at all expecting but, thankfully, Lance didn’t seem to notice and just kept talking. “Cuz I think the real Shiro would fall for that better but I don’t know about this one.”

By the time Keith managed to notice that Lance had stopped talking and was waiting for an answer it was too late to hide the awkward pause. “You. . . “ Keith thought he might try then just shook his head with a huff. “Fuck it. Do whatever you think is right.”

* * *

“What the fuck was that, Lance?” Keith snarled as he stalked back into Green’s hangar with the stupid toothbrush.

Lance just shrugged, “He didn’t fall for my Leia so I had to improvise.”

“With that!?” Keith practically shrieked.

Pidge didn’t even try to hide the amused grin on her face as she looked up from her screens to rub salt in the wound. “I think it’s a valid question.”

“No.” Keith glared daggers at her.

Pidge just took off her glasses and rubbed them with a cleaning cloth as she idly pointed out, “You have matching scars on your crotch, Keith.” 

“And you think that indicates a romantic involvement?”

“I could see you being into some kinky shit.” She slid her glasses back up her nose and they glinted in the light of the screens.

Keith grit his jaw and decided to just not argue with that. Not when he had a better option. “And Shiro?”

“I meant that you in the plural,” the gremlin purred with a dark little smirk. “It’s always the quiet ones.”

Keith’s brain needed a moment to do a hard reset after that. Lance poked his shoulder when that moment got a bit too long.

“I think you broke him.” 

“No.” Keith snapped out of it. “Just. No.”

Of course Pidge would not be satisfied with that. “So there _isn’t_ something going on between you and Shiro?”

Keith really did not want to get into that so he shook his head and reached for a distraction. “Aren’t you supposed to be running an analysis?”

“I can multitask.” The shrug that accompanied it was just as haughty as her tone. Keith must have put on his imminent violence face because Lance physically stepped between them and turned a brilliant smile to the girl.

“C’mon Pidgey,” he absolutely crooned. “This is important.”

“This is Keith being paranoid until we’ve got proof.” 

“Well, do we have proof or not?” Keith didn’t bother trying not to growl.

“Eh.” Pige shrugged it off without concern. “So far the scars are inconclusive. They’re all accounted for and within an acceptable margin of error for comparison by surveillance photograph. I’d have to get him into a healing pod for more accurate results.” 

Keith practically shivered in rage. “The scar on his hip isn’t the same! It’s obviously not. You both saw it.”

“Yes. That one is obviously distorted but it could possibly be explained by a new scar over the original?” Pidge didn’t even sound sure of that herself. Keith knew he could appeal to her logic. 

“What are the chances of a new scar just distorting the original instead of completely changing it?”

“Yes,” she admitted and that helped to calm Keith down. Of course she didn’t leave it there. “But it doesn’t make sense. Why go to the trouble of matching all the scars only to mess up on that one?”

Keith grit his jaw at her. It was a good point. 

“Maybe they were just working off pictures too?” Lance made it sound like a question.

“What do you mean?” Pidge arched a brow at the idea.

“Well, the Galra didn’t know Shiro was gonna become the Black Paladin when they had him the first time and we don’t really know where he is now. Maybe they don’t have him. Maybe they figured out he’s missing cuz, face it, we weren’t exactly subtle about that, and so they cooked this up last second. They’d have to use whatever records and photos they had of Shiro from before and since the healing pods don’t leave scars he wouldn’t have any new ones. Maybe they just don’t have a good picture of his crotch?”

“Huh. . .” Pidge huffed a considering sound and turned back to her screens. “That. . . actually makes sense.”

Sometimes Lance does have really good ideas. Keith started to smile then realised something. “But then where’s the real Shiro?”

Lance shrugged with a sorry expression but Pidge tapped at her screen. “Well, according to this DNA analysis he’s upstairs.”

“What?” both boys gaped at her.

She just turned around her screen to show an incomprehensible jumble of code as if they could make sense of it. She only added as an afterthought “Sequences match, guys. It’s Shiro.”

“No.” Keith backed away a few steps and shook his head. “It can’t be.”

“Yeah,” Lance huffed. “It’s obviously an evil clone.”

Pidge shook her head at the both of them but dealt with Lance first. “That’s not how cloning works.”

“How do you know? Have you ever cloned anything?” He swiveled his head at her.

“Lance.” Pidge pushed her glasses up with a flat look. “Cloning doesn’t make a carbon copy of the person. It makes an embryo with the same DNA. It could grow up to look just like Shiro but that would take decades.”

“Maybe Space Clones work different?” Lance huffed with a little toss of a hand. “We should talk to Coran.”

“I already said I don’t want anyone else to know till we have proof.” Pidge pointed at her screen. “This is the opposite of proof.”

“It’s not Shiro!” Keith recovered enough to snap. “I don’t care what the DNA says. The scars don’t match and he’s not acting right.”

“And I still don’t trust the others to keep it a secret.” Pidge didn’t back down. “Allura isn’t going to accept this without proof.” 

Keith glared a moment but he knew she was right so turned away with a huff, folding his arms as he grumbled. “We should just toss him out an airlock and be done with it.”

“Uuh. . .” Lance drawled uncomfortably. “That’s not gonna be any easier for Allura to handle.” 

“I don’t care what Allura thinks.” Keith glared at him for it and pointed to Pidge’s screens. “That’s _not_ Shiro.”

“What isn’t Shiro?” Coran’s voice cut through the tension that sparked between the three Paladins. They all twitched for it as they turned to watch him stride into the hangar. An awkward silence began to settle over them and Pidge glared at the boys, threatening them not to break it but Lance was impervious and stepped up to meet the older Altean anyway.

“We think Shiro isn’t the real Shiro and might be an evil clone sent by Haggar to undermine us from within.” Lance managed to explain in a single breath.

“Hm. . .” Coran stroked his mustache in consideration. “That’s quite an accusation. What makes you think this?”

“He isn’t acting right,” Keith supplied with a grumble. “Hasn’t been since we got him back.”

“Well, stress-” Coran started to make excuses but Keith cut him off with a frustrated sound.

“It isn’t stress!” he threw up his hands, “I know Shiro. I know how he handles stress. This isn’t it.”

Coran just shook his head with a pitying little frown. “I’m afraid cloning doesn’t work like that, Keith. It would take decopheebs to mature.”

“Couldn’t they just. . . magic it?” Lance asked to keep Keith from snapping.

Coran arched a brow at the boy then shook his head again. “Quintessence can slow down the aging process but I’ve never heard of it being used to speed it up. Of course Druid magic is known to break rules. But then it would still have to be taught everything Shiro knows. Even the most basic of things such as language and coordination.”

“What about the memory transfer thing?” Lance brought up a very good point. “Like what you guys did with Alfor. And we tried on Sendak. Putting his memories into the ship.”

“That. . .” Coran trailed off with a frown then shook his head. “That is Altean technology.”

“The Galra could have figured it out though.” Keith argued at Lance’s side. “They’ve had ten thousand years.”

“In which they’ve not solved the mechanics behind the teledove.” Coran waved the notion off. “No, number four. It’s much more likely just a brain parasite. A quick nap in the healing pods should clear that right up.”

“How would a brain parasite change his scar?” Keith asked roughly, having forgotten that Coran missed the first half of this conversation.

“His scar?” The Altean asked curiously. Keith suddenly remembered that needs explaining.

“Shiro has a very specific scar that doesn’t match up with what we’re seeing now.” Pidge had mercy and did it for him.

“I don’t see any dif-” Coran started to dismiss that too but Pidge stopped him with a wry little grin.

“Not that scar. You wouldn’t have seen this one.”

Coran blinked then glanced between the three. “What scar is it then?”

Keith seriously regretted all of the life choices that lead him here as Pidge just smiled wider and brought up the image she’d taken from Shiro’s shower.

“Oh.” Coran huffed then flustered, “My. Well, that. . .” Did he just blush? It was gone quickly though and Coran composed himself, pulling at his jacket then asked only a bit tightly, “How did you three know about this mark? Or get this photo?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Keith stopped that topic in its tracks. “The important thing is that scar does not match the healing pod’s records.”

Coran arched a brow and looked over the three a moment then shook his head with a frown. “Scars do heal over time.”

“Not like this.” Keith tried to keep the frustration out of his voice. “I have the same scar. Received at the same time. It’s not healing. It’s obviously not.”

Coran blinked for this information and looked at Keith like he’d never seen the boy before. “You have the same scar in your nether regions?”

“Keith put it there.” Pidge grinned behind her screens. “At least on Shiro. Did Shiro do yours?” The gremlin turned to Keith as if he might actually answer that. Of course he didn’t. But then maybe she just wanted to make him glare. If so, great job.

“I was unaware that humans practiced ritual scarring.” Coran mused to cut the tension.

“We don’t.” Keith snapped.

“Well, actually, some cultures. . .” Pidge started to impart upon them a bit of useless trivia but trailed off when both Keith and Lance glared at her for it. “Ok, yeah. Not important.”

Coran looked them over again then asked gently, “Have any of you talked to Shiro about this?”

“And let the Galra know we’re onto them?” Lance huffed what they were all thinking.

“Would it be so out of character for you to talk to Shiro in concern for his well being?”

“Yes.” Keith answered immediately.

Coran arched a brow for that but didn’t question it and just turned to the others. “What about you two?”

“Actually yeah.” Pidge furrowed her brow with a guilty look. “I don’t think I’ve ever talked to Shiro about how he’s doing beyond physical injuries or the meaningless small talk of socially acceptable greetings.”

“Huh. . . you know.” Lance frowned. “I don’t think I have either. Keith has always been with him when he’s looked down so I guess I just figured that. . . Keith talked to him? Wow, saying that out loud makes me realise how dumb it sounds.”

“Thanks.” Keith shot the boy a glare for that but couldn’t really argue with it.

Coran hid a smile under his mustache and shook his head at Keith. “Sounds to me that it _is_ in your character to express concern for Shiro, number Four.”

“Show it, sure but I don’t talk, Ok. I just stand there and keep my mouth shut and it seems to make him feel better and I don’t know why. The real Shiro used to talk to me when I did that but this one won’t and I can’t talk to him, Ok. I’m not a talker.”

Coran nodded with a sympathetic look then asked softly. “Do _they_ know that?”

“Uuuh. . .” Keith blinked. It was a good question really. The imposter might not know how Keith usually behaves if it can’t even get Shiro right. 

Coran put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I think you should talk to Shiro.”

* * *

Keith tried, and failed, to force himself not to think about Shiro as he made the slow trek to the hall where Pidge’s cameras found the imposter staring out one of the big windows into space. There was just too much there to think about. Where is he? Is he ok? Do the Galra have him? Is he lost? Is he alone? Is he trying to come home? Can they find him? Keith didn’t have answers for any of that and he wasn’t likely to get them soon. Possibly the worst part about this whole NotShiro thing was the looming dread of those questions. Not knowing. But worrying about that did no one any good. So Keith pushed it out of mind as he rounded the corner to his destination.

NotShiro stood bathed in the castle’s soft blue light watching the stars with a distantly troubled expression. His brows were furrowed just enough to put a familiar little crease between them. His lips made a tight line over that ridiculously strong jaw. It was almost right. Almost the man Keith remembered. But his shoulders were too tight. Stance too closed off, too rigid. He lacked Shiro’s calm. His warmth. How had it taken so long to notice?

“Hey. . .” Keith’s voice trailed off as he approached. He couldn’t even say Shiro’s name. The man looked down from the stars but didn’t turn around. He watched the reflection in the glass instead. Their images locked eyes and NotShiro frowned. 

“Keith. . .” he started but trailed off too. His voice was weighted. Heavy. There was so much neither of them were saying. Which was uncomfortably close to how the real Shiro acted but this was just awkward. Keith wasn’t sure he would be able to keep his lunch down let alone not glare at this fake. But he had to play it cool. Smoothe, Kogane. What would Lance do? Probably flirt. A brief mental image of Lance’s Princess Leia impression ran unbidden through Keith’s mind and he had to physically shake his head to get it out. Nope. Not doing that. For soo many reasons. Not doing that.

So Keith settled on a more direct approach and squared his shoulders on the man with an effort to look serious but not accusing. He used his reflection in the window to check his stance and had to adjust it twice before he managed something that wasn’t hostile. That ended up being a one legged lean against the far wall and not looking at the imposter as he asked, “You. . . Ok?”

NotShiro had watched him go through the awkward shuffle of trying to find an acceptable position but didn’t comment. Pretended not to notice even. He frowned when Keith finally found words and just stared at the boy’s reflection a moment before looking back to the stars with a tired sigh. “I don’t know.”

Keith blinked. He’d not expected that. He was prepared for NotShiro to deny anything at all being wrong or at least make excuses. He wasn’t sure what to do with such a vulnerable admission. It was too much like the real Shiro. This one didn’t elaborate though and the silence began to stretch between them. Keith grit his jaw and hesitated a moment before having to look down at his hands as he forced himself to mutter, “Yeah. Me too.”

There was a pause. Hesitation. Then NotShiro turned just a bit to give Keith a sideways glance, look the boy over with a worried frown. Keith fixed his eyes on the ground. He just couldn’t look. That made the man turn fully and take a few steps closer with a gently breathed, “I’m sorry.”

“What?” Keith’s eyes snapped up to stare at the man, confused. NotShiro smiled almost meekly. Keith had to look away before his mind decided between melting under that expression or punching it off the bastard’s stupid face.

“I’m sorry,” the man repeated but explained this time. “For pushing Lance too hard. You two are. . .” he trailed off uncertainly then settled on, “closer than I remember.”

“Uhh. . .” Keith did not want to think about that pause and shook his head to clear it again. “Well. Yeah. He. . . he’s my Red Paladin. You know. Like I was. To. . . you.” That wasn’t incriminatingly awkward at all.

“Like you were. . .” NotShiro muttered with a frown and looked back to the stars.

“Y-yeah?” Keith couldn’t help making it sound like a question just to spite himself.

NotShiro watched his reflection a moment then turned again. “You care about him.”

“I care about the whole team.” Keith easily said that with conviction. “They’re my family.”

“Yes.” NotShiro furrowed his brow with a little nod. “I know how important that is to you. But, Keith. This is a war. We can’t-” The next words were probably going to be ‘coddle them’ so Keith cut him off.

“Treat your men like your beloved and they will follow you into the deepest valley.”

NotShiro blinked at that nugget of unexpected wisdom. He just stared at Keith a moment, clearly confused. It was out of character for the boy to speak like that. Didn’t sound like something he would say at all. Because it wasn’t. Shiro would know that. NotShiro just gave a thoughtful nod. “I. . . suppose that makes sense.”

Keith grit his jaw a moment and kept an expectant stare on the man but he had nothing else to say. He didn’t recognize it. “Sun Tzu. The Art of War.” Keith credited the quote to its source but NotShiro just looked lost so Keith added, “They made us read it at the Garrison.”

“Ah. Yes.” NotShiro huffed a slight laugh with a little nod. “They made us read a lot of books.”

“Yeah.” Keith huffed something that could be considered a laugh in some cultures then added, “It’s a good one. Your favorite. Patience yields focus and all.”

“Yeah.” NotShiro agreed with another nod. “I guess I just. . . lost track of that. In everything else.”

Keith had to cross his arms to physically restrain himself. Shiro would never just casually agree to that. He didn’t believe in favorites. He wouldn’t have needed to be reminded where the quote came from either. Nor would he miss the opportunity to rib Keith over using it, not after Keith called Sun Tzu a pussy (he was young and stupid at the time). Shiro would also know the patience mantra didn’t come from that book. But NotShiro didn’t remember their late night ‘philosophical debates’ at the Garrison. What else doesn’t he know? 

Keith hesitated a long moment to get himself under control enough to deliver another quote. He just narrowly resisted a grated, lilting voice as he said it. “In this war, a danger there is, of losing who we are.”

NotShiro just blinked and waited a moment before asking, “More Sun Tzu?”

Keith’s eye twitched. Ok, that wasn’t the most iconic of lines but it was pretty memorable. Maybe he shouldn’t have pulled from the prequels but it fit the conversation and he was trying to be smooth. Besides, Shiro could quote all nine movies by heart. Half of their debates had been about that damn franchise and it’s now eerily accurate depictions of Space Magic. He would not shut up about it for weeks after the Balmera. Keith was about to run out of mental tangent to distract himself with and possibly say something unfortunate when Hunk and Allura rounded the corner.

“There you are.” Allura sighed as if she’d been looking all over the ship though Keith was pretty sure she hadn’t. “We’ve been looking all over for you. I know it’s late but one of the Olkari ships called in. They’d like an escort.” 

Of course one of their needy allies would need them right now. It’s what allies do, right? Need things. Keith had to force the bitterness down, bury it under too little sleep and all the other shit he had to deal with right now. That meant he didn’t respond right away which gave NotShiro the chance, nay permission, to assume Allura was talking to him and not Keith. Of course she probably was because no one treated Keith like the Black Paladin unless it was convenient for them.

“Of course.” NotShiro accepted the mission like it was his one true purpose in life. “Keith can take the Black Lion to assist them.”

Keith bit back a growl then shook his head. “We should all go.”

Everyone stared like he’d just grown a second head. Keith really couldn’t blame them. Allura recovered first and put on her diplomatic smile. “Keith. They don’t need all of us.”

“Then Allura can go with Blue,” Keith said it more to NotShiro than her. She looked a little slighted but Keith could worry about that later.

“Allura needs to stay with the castle,” NotShiro tried to reason with him and Keith hated how good he was at it.

Keith knew he wasn’t getting out of this without looking like a total jackass so he just doubled down on it. “I’m not splitting the party.”

“Party?” NotShiro didn’t get that reference either. “What’s gotten into you?”

There was a moment of hesitation as Keith spared a quick glance to Hunk. Would he recognize this? How much shit is Lance going to give him when Hunk inevitably tells him about it? All that didn’t matter right now though. Proving this isn’t Shiro was the only thing Keith could afford to think about. So he braced himself and took a deep breath then properly growled another applicable quote. “ _meQtaHbogh qachDaq Suv qoH neH_.” 

Everyone stared like Keith’s second head just grew a third. NotShiro looked confused and was getting wary. Allura looked almost offended. Hunk looked concerned. 

“Uh. . . Keith?” The big guy was first to speak this time. “Are you OK, buddy?”

“I’m fine.” Keith failed to keep the hiss out of his voice as he pointed at NotShiro. “He’s not.”

“Shiro! There you are!” Lance practically yelled as he jumped out from around the corner where he’d probably been hiding for most of the conversation. “We’ve been looking all over.”

That did manage to redirect the tension but not break it. NotShiro still asked, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing to worry about.” Coran dismissed the whole thing with a little wave as he walked up behind Lance. “We just have reason to believe that Shiro may have a slight problem with a brain parasite. The healing pods should fix it right up!”

“What?” NotShiro was appropriately disturbed by Coran’s chipper casualness when saying what he’d just said.

“Oh it’s not that bad.” Coran almost chidded, “Honestly as much as you five remove your helmets on alien planets it’s a wonder this hasn’t happened sooner.”

“What!?” Hunk squeaked and turned squeamish at the thought. Keith couldn’t really blame him.

Coran didn’t bother answering the question and just caught NotShiro by the arm, giving him a little tug. “Come along now.”

“No, hey!” NotShiro pulled his arm back and stepped away. “Stop it! I don’t have any sort of parasite.” 

Lance and Coran shared a quick look then Lance stepped up, full charm. “C’mon, Shiro. Just let us check you out.”

Shiro arched a brow then shook his head. “We don’t have time for this. The Olkari need our help.”

“It’s an escort, not a rescue.” Keith stepped up to stand with Lance and Coran.

“Escorts can turn into rescues.” NotShiro had an answer for everything and Keith was losing patience. His hand was on his blade when he stepped closer with a growl.

“Just go in the pod.”

“Whoa!” Hunk stepped between Keith and NotShiro, hands up. “Guys. Hey. Wait. We don’t need to fight about this. We can all do the escort. Ok? Allura, can you get a wormhole started?”

“Well. Yes. But maybe we should-” Allura started to argue but Lance cut her off.

“Go do that. K, Princess?” His voice was surprisingly tight and the little closing hand gesture he made was almost rude. Keith loved it. Especially when the Princess backed down with a little sigh and gracefully left the room. Then Lance turned on him. “Keith, you go get ready with Black.”

A lifetime of problems with authority riled in Keith’s chest as he seethed for the command. Who the fuck did Lance think he is? Red Paladin. Keith’s glare calmed and the imploring little smile Lance gave him just took the fight right out. He was too tired for this. He just hoped Lance had a plan. 

“Yeah. . . Sure.” Keith clenched his fists as he walked past them, nearly shoulder checking NotShiro as he did. Halfway down the hall Keith stopped and turned back. “Hey, Shiro.” he called and waited for the man to turn then held up his right hand, palm facing them with his thumb held out to the side, first and second fingers together, third and fourth fingers together but the two groups spread in a v. It was a gesture Shiro would recognize instantly. NotShiro looked confused so Keith rubbed salt in the wound by saying, “May the Force be with you.”

Lance’s jaw nearly hit the ground. Pidge’s eyes went wide behind her glasses. Even Hunk cringed a little for the mixed references. It was probably a good thing NotShiro had his back to them or he might have been able to fake a proper response but as it was he just tried to hide the confusion under a little nod and awkward, “Yeah. You too.”

Keith gave Lance and Pidge a meaningful look over NotShiro's shoulder then turned away to continue down the hall. They watched him leave in silence.

“Uhh. . . what was that?” Hunk waited till Keith was around the corner to ask.

“That was proof.” Pidge pushed up her glasses, now eyeing NotShiro with analytical curiosity.

“Proof of what?” NotShiro gave the girl a wary frown then suddenly dropped like a sack of hammers. Keith stood behind him with a metal bar in hand.

“Whoa, man. Keith!” Hunk understandably freaked out for the sudden and unexpected use of violence to render what appeared to be a teammate unconscious on the floor for no obvious reason at all. “What’s going on?”

“Keith just used nerd culture references to prove that something’s wrong with Shiro.” Pidge addressed part of the problem but Keith wasn’t satisfied so kicked the body as he stepped over it to stand with the others.

“That’s not Shiro. He’s been acting strange ever-”

“ _He’s_ acting strange, man?” Hunk cut Keith off then shook his head. “Don’t you think that’s kind of-” Hunk stopped mid sentence with a wide eyed glance over Keith’s shoulder. “Uh!” 

Keith turned around just in time for NotShiro to punch him in the face. It was that kind of day.


	3. All Downhill From Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot makes this one less funny but I still managed to work in some embarrassingly nerdy pop culture references. Mega kudos to anyone who can name their source(s).

If anyone had asked Keith what he might be doing today this certainly would not have come to mind. Lance would have laughed if he were told Shiro was going to sucker punch Keith but here they were. Lance tried not to think too hard on that crunching sound NotShiro’s metal fist made when it connected with Keith’s face. Or the way Keith went down like a rag doll for it. He had more immediate concerns. Like NotShiro’s Galra yellow eyes leering at him over a dark expression that screamed talking time is over. Now we fight. 

The others hesitated in shocked confusion but Lance brought up his bayard, gun form ready to defend. Unfortunately what NotShiro lacked in memories he made up for with fighting expertise. He stepped over Keith’s limp body with a grin that spread just a little too wide as he brought up that metal hand. For a moment it looked like he might just take a fighting stance and wait for them to make the first move but the next thing Lance knew that hand was coming right for him. 

NotShiro attacked like a wild animal, snarl and all. It was chaos as the others realized what was happening. Lance tried to shoot as he dodged away from the hand but NotShiro was faster and wearing his idol’s face so he missed and Hunk had to pull Lance back from taking a clawed hand to the neck. Pidge’s bayard caught NotShiro’s arm but she didn’t have the leverage to do anything more than get tossed across the room and disarmed for it. Coran ducked under a wild swing and booked it down the hall, leaving the Paladins to “Buy us some time!” Hunk didn’t have his weapon but he was able to body slam NotShiro to the ground. If not for that metal arm he might have been able to stay on top but it lit up with an angry purple glow and left a sear mark on Hunk’s chest that would take a pod to heal. Pidge jumped on the imposter’s back as he stood to turn on Lance who was taking aim again. NotShiro ripped the girl off with that metal hand and threw her at Lance, taking them both down. 

Hunk was gasping for breath, clutching his burned chest and Lance struggled to separate himself from Pidge as NotShiro stalked toward them. Lance’s hands shook but he managed to get up with his rifle. NotShiro took a direct hit to his shoulder but shrugged it off like nothing and backhanded Lance away the moment he got close enough, after taking two more shots from the rifle. Pidge gaped, eyes wide as the monster in their friend’s skin glared down at her. Hunk pushed himself up just in time to stare at NotShiro lifting Pidge off the ground, holding her by the neck, feet dangling. The big guy tried for another tackle to save her but NotShiro just stepped to the side. Hunk crashed into the wall, nearly on top of Lance. The boys scrambled to get back up before NotShiro choked the life out of their friend. It wasn’t looking good for any of them. 

Then a brilliant flash of white-purple light momentarily blinded them all. The sickening sound of ripping flesh hit their ears with a terrible scream. A small body thudded to the ground then scrambled away. 

“Keith! Stop!” Allura cried from down the hall, running toward them as sight began to return. NotShiro was on his knees, clutching the stump of a severed arm, his Galra arm cut completely off. Keith stood behind him with two blades crossed over the back of his neck. There was blood running down Keith’s chin from what was probably a broken nose. The blood on his sword though was not his own.

“Give me a reason,” Keith growled and it wasn’t clear if he was talking to Allura or threatening NotShiro. Allura took it as the first.

“It’s _Shiro_ ,” She nearly hissed, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Which was understandable. She’d missed the first part of the fight. Keith just tightened his grip on the blades and hissed back.

“It is _not_ Shiro.” 

“W-what?” NotShiro’s voice nearly squeaked as he started to turn and look at the boy for that but Keith pressed the blades closer and stopped him. He just leveled his eyes on the others instead. They were grey again. Human eyes. Shiro’s eyes. He looked confused and scared. “What are you talking about?” He breathed almost a tight whine. “What’s going on?” He really sounded like he didn’t know. 

Keith wasn’t about to fall for that but he could see doubt in the others. He grit his jaw and pressed the blades closer. “Don’t play stupid. You just attacked us.”

“What?” NotShiro almost turned again and cut his neck trying. He flinched away with a hiss and Keith slid one of the blades down to threaten his jugular.

“Keith!” Allura chided as she took a few steps closer but Lance caught her arm to hold her back as Hunk stepped between them, hands up defensively.

“Keith. Buddy. Calm down.”

“He almost killed Pidge!” Keith tried, unsuccessfully not to snarl.

“I’m OK,” Pidge coughed from her spot sitting against the far wall.

“See. She’s fine,” Hunk waved a hand at her then took a cautious step toward Keith. “C’mon, Buddy. We don’t really know what’s going on. You can’t just knife first and ask questions never.”

Keith huffed an almost offended sound for that and would have said something had a sudden crack not disrupted his train of thought. He felt the body under his blades jerk back, tensing and start to struggle but falter then suddenly go limp. Keith nearly cut the bastard’s head off if not for that last part. 

“What tha-” Lance gaped to confirm that Keith was not the only one to see it as NotShiro flopped face first onto the floor. Keith had to pull his blades back not to cut him. Well that was. . . unexpected. Keith furrowed his brow and looked up to see the other’s staring back. Then he caught sight of something farther down the hall. 

Coran was just getting up from the ground where something that looked like a tactical sniper rifle, muzzle stand and scope included, was set up and aimed directly at NotShiro’s chest. Coran brushed off his waistcoat then fluffed his mustache as he casually used his foot to scoot the rifle into a little cubby the mice opened from the base of the wall. Keith blinked. Neither of them said a word as Coran sauntered up behind the group of younger Paladins.

“Much gentler but the same effect as a metal bar to the head,” Coran announced and held up what unmistakably resembled a tranquilizer dart. “Less lasting damage though.”

They all stared at the man for a moment. It was easy to forget that Coran actually had more combat experience than the rest of them combined. Note to self. Don’t fuck with Coran. 

“Yes. Well. We should get him into a holding pod, don’t you think?” the dandy ginger asked like he was suggesting they get lunch. They all just continued to stare. Hunk fidgeted sheepishly as Coran shook his head with a sigh and started to drag NotShiro away himself.

“What _is_ going on?”

* * *

Five Paladins stood in a semicircle around the holding pod where they’d put the imposter. Well, technically Pidge sat with her laptop but she was still in the circle. Coran was keeping a close eye on the pod’s memory extraction functions, now upgraded with a firewall to prevent what happened with Sendak but it wasn’t exactly tested so they didn’t want to take chances. Pidge had half an eye on that but was also plugged into NotShiro’s severed Galra arm as Lance explained the situation to Hunk and Allura.

The Princess took it better than Keith had expected. So far at least. She was uncharacteristically broody at the moment and almost sulking a few steps back from the rest as if to separate herself from the group. It was a position Keith knew well. But she hadn’t outright denied their accusations and wasn’t calling for NotShiro to be released. Yet.

“Ok. So. Let me get this straight.” Hunk cut into Keith’s thoughts once Lance finished explaining. “Shiro yelled at Lance so that made Keith realise a whole bunch of little things that’ve been wrong with Shiro since we got him back and then Keith got paranoid and Pidge has cameras in the showers which is how you got the photo of that. . . scar,” The big guy cringed a little then went back to talking with his hands as he tried to wrap his mind around what just happened. “Which I really don’t want to know about, and then you got DNA off a toothbrush but it was a match and all the other scars line up but Keith is still convinced that’s not Shiro and he really did attack us so there’s at least something wrong?”

“Pretty much” Pidge nodded with a little shrug. 

“It’s obviously an evil clone.” Lance would just not let that go.

“Uh. . . that’s not-” Hunk started to reason but Pidge cut him off.

“We’ve told him. What I’m more concerned about is this code,” Pidge turned her screen to show them a complex jumble of code that only meant anything to Hunk.

“Oh man.” Hunk marveled at it. “That looks like a signal override mechanism.”

“Precisely.” Pidge nodded gravely.

Hunk nodded back. “That could explain why he attacked us.”

“Exactly.” Pidge nearly hissed as if this were just so obvious.

“Uh. No.” Lance cut in. “What do signals have to do with NotShiro going all yellow eyed crazy?”

Hunk and Pidge exchanged glances for the question. Pidge must have lost whatever staring contest that was because she answered, “Ok. So, your brain talks to your body by sending electrical impulses kind of like the signals a computer uses to control the parts of a robot. It’s a lot more complicated than that but it is theoretically possible to control an organic body by interfering with those signals. Just like how I can hack a drone. Shiro’s arm has a mechanism that can basically hack him.”

“That’s possible?” Lance blinked. “How!?”

“From what I can tell it backtracks along the neural link that lets his brain control the arm to do a reverse of that, letting the arm control his brain.” Pidge pushed up her glasses, catching the glare from her screens. “It’s all just electrical impulses and chemistry really.”

Lance just stared a moment before half falling back against the wall with a breathless, “Holy crow. . .”

“Yeah.” Hunk nodded with a frown, “I can accept and even confirm the science but that only explains the attack when he went all yellow eyed. That wouldn’t explain memory lapses or change in behavior.”

“Unless it’s an evil clone.” Lance popped back up. Hunk was about to argue that when Keith cut in.

“I hate to agree with Lance but. . .” Keith trailed off to point at the body in the tube. “That is _not_ Shiro.”

“I’m pretty sure cloning doesn’t work like that.” Hunk shook his head. “No way they had time to grow a clone and then what about the memories he _does_ have. Cuz he does remember some things. We would have noticed waaay sooner if he didn’t.”

“Well.” Lance waved a hand at the tube, “He is currently inside a memory extraction tube.”

Hunk frowned, “The Galra don’t have that tech. Right?” He glanced at Coran as if the out of touch Altean would know.

“If they did there wouldn’t be lapses in his memory.” Coran stuck to his earlier insistence. “This must be Druid sorcery.”

“I’m sure that’s how they’re controlling him,” Pidge cut in before Keith could point out how naive Coran was being. “But from what I can tell, most of what NotShiro knows has been from since Shiro got the Galra arm. Given how we weren’t able to detect or even figure out how the transmission part of the arm works, it is entirely possible that the real Shiro’s arm has been transmitting data to Haggar this whole time. The way this thing works, she could have fed that into NotShiro to give him perfect recollection of everything that’s happened to Shiro since getting the arm. It’s really terrifying technology. Combine this with the Altean ability to pull existing memories and you’ve got a recipe for immortality. If you’re not too caught up on that whole soul thing and have a somewhat flexible definition of identity.” She paused then added, “This could be how Zarkon has managed to stay alive so long.”

There was an awkward silence for that before Coran argued again, “There would not be lapses in memory if they had the Altean tech.”

“Maybe,” Pidge gave him some leeway, “But we don’t know if Haggar even has the real Shiro right now. She might just not have had the chance. I mean, why bother with a clone when they could have just put the control in RealShiro’s arm? Wouldn’t that be a much better plan?”

“Because the Galra are known for well thought out, rational plans,” Keith couldn’t help muttering under his breath. Everyone pretended not to hear it. Allura took the opportunity to step up from her silent sulking in the corner. 

“Then how can we be sure this isn’t the real Shiro?”

“The memories.” Keith had a quick answer. “No way Shiro would have forgotten all of that.”

“All of _what_ exactly?” Allura narrowed her eyes slightly. Keith faltered, not sure how to explain it.

“Earth stuff,” Pidge answered for him. “Keith used pieces of Earth. . . mythology,” she decided now was not the time to explain pop culture, “like a code to test Shiro. Things he should have known but didn’t.” 

Allura frowned and did consider that but shook her head. “We don’t know what the control mechanism might do to a person though. It could still be Shiro just. . . damaged.”

Keith grit his jaw and forced himself not to glare. They all knew Allura would be a hard sell. But Keith had hard proof. “The scar.” 

Awkwardness settled over the room. No one wanted to ask though most of them obviously wanted to know what was up with that scar. Keith had no intention of explaining but he also wasn’t about to let them brush it off either. They were going to try though. Coran stepped up with an already apologetic face. He knew Keith wasn’t going to take this well but said it anyway. “Shiro could have done that himself. Not to make implications but marks like that usually signify ownership within the Galra Empire. Shiro would have been made aware of this in the arena. If not for its placement, the Galra would have removed it when he was Champion. Is it not possible that Shiro did not want to carry such a mark any longer?”

Keith glared. Hard. “He wouldn’t do that.” 

“But why not?” Coran asked, reasonably.

“He just wouldn’t.” Keith did so not want to get into that.

Coran hesitated a moment, glanced to the others but still asked, “How do you know?”

“Because I know!” Keith threw up his hands with a petulant huff. “I know Shiro and he wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do any of the things that. . . fake has done!” Keith knew he looked and sounded like a child right about then but thankfully the universe gave them a distraction so he didn’t have to throw a full blown fit to avoid further explanation.

“Um. . . um hey guys.” Hunk cut into the drama. “Should that arm be able to move on its own?”

“No. It’s disconnected from its power source.” Pidge looked back at him with a frown.

“Ok. Well. I think it has a backup cuz -” Hunk pointed to the arm now half standing on its fingers and using them to crawl away like something out of a B-rate horror flick.

“Holy quiznak.” Lance gasped, “Quick, catch it!”

They all pounced on it at once which was probably not the best tactic because it resulted in a tangled pile of Paladins out of which the arm managed to wiggle. It proved much faster and more agile than one might expect of a severed arm and before anyone could extricate themselves it had flopped over to NotShiro and slapped the hand print panel to release his pod into space, just like Shiro had done to Sendak.

“Oh-oh that’s just perfect!” Keith snarled as he shoved himself out of the pile. 

Pidge rolled out after him and threw herself on the arm. Hunk came up to help and the two techies got it under control as Lance untangled from the Alteans and Keith seethed.

“We should just shoot it down now,” he growled, “Be done with this.”

“We don’t know-” Allura started to argue but Keith cut her off.

“I _do_ know. It’s not Shiro. Stop pretending you know him better than I do.”

Allura huffed for that and took a moment to calm down before she managed, “We don’t know why it’s here. Or what it’s done. We should interrogate it at least.”

Keith had to admit she was right. He did not have to be happy about it. He was too tired to be gracious. Before he could give in and agree with her though, the castle’s alarms went off with a screeching blare.

“What the cheese?” Lance yelped as Pidge quickly pulled up the system’s terminal to check what was going on.

“Galra ships incoming!” She reported quickly, still typing. “A heavy cruiser. Full complement of fighters. They’re on an intercept course with the pod.”

“Of course they are,” Keith couldn’t help the sneer then shook it off and turned to his team. “Everyone to your Lions. We can’t let them pick up that pod.”

“We are not going to shoot it down,” Allura argued as the others headed to their hangars. 

“Then get it before they do.” Keith called back to her as he rushed out.

* * *

The Lions of Voltron launched from the castle just as the Galra cruiser came into sight. The Black Lion lead their charge with a mighty roar, tearing through the little fighter ships that flung themselves at her as she careened almost recklessly after the pod holding NotShiro in stasis. The other Lions provided support while Black opened her maw and took the pod in. But that didn’t end the fight. The Galra were true to their motto - Victory or Death. The Paladins were forced to fight them to the last man. That bought enough time for a second cruiser to arrive and it became glaringly obvious they needed the big guns for this.

“We need to form Voltron!” Lance called over the coms as Red struggled to dodge through a field of fighters and laser fire.

“Yeah,” Pidge huffed back, “Why haven’t you formed us up already, Keith?”

There was an uncomfortably long silence on the coms before Keith answered a bit tightly. “Because Black left the hangar without me.”

“What?!” Lance squeaked.

“You heard me.”

“But. . .” Hunk gawked. “But she’s out here. Flying. Fighting. How-”

Keith was glad he wasn’t on the vidcom because the glare he gave Black’s hangar was deadly as he tried not to snarl, “The Lions can move on their own, Hunk. You all know that.”

There was a long pause before Pidge dared to ask. “Can we form Voltron like this?”

“I don’t know.” Keith didn’t mean to snap but he was just so done. “You’re the ones out there. Why don’t you try it?”

“Ok, ok. Cheese.” Lance kept anyone else from commenting on Keith’s frayed nerves. “Don’t have to get all miffy.” 

Keith grit his jaw and turned off his mic so they couldn’t hear him growl as he listened to the other Paladins try and fail to get Black’s attention enough so they could form up. It was hopeless and stupid. The Lions couldn’t form Voltron without a pilot. What was the point of even having pilots if they could? Shiro would never have let this happen. Black would have listened to him. And now Keith’s friends, his family, were out there fighting without them both. Keith bit back a snarl as he turned sharply to stalk toward the central hangar. He would take a fucking pod out there if that’s what it took to save his team. 

_Don’t_

A voice echoed in the distance. Keith stopped short and jerked around but there was no one behind him. He turned a full circle but the hangar was empty. Great. Hearing things now. Keith rubbed trembling hands over his face and took several deep breaths to calm down. What would Shiro say?

_Patience_

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Keith threw up his hands in frustration. “Fuck you brain,” he smacked himself upside the head a bit harder than intended but he really did not need to be hallucinating Shiro’s voice right now. Could concussions cause hallucinations? He probably did have a concussion. NotShiro hit him hard enough.

_You can hear me?_

Well that was different. Keith furrowed his brow and looked around the hangar again.

“D-did you guys hear something?” Lance’s voice came over the coms to ask what was on Keith’s mind.

“Little busy,” Hunk answered tightly then grunted as Yellow took another hit. “Trying not to die” They weren’t going to last much longer.

“Lance. Can you hear me?” Shiro’s voice crackled over the com. It was distorted and faint but they all heard it.

“Shiro!?” multiple voices gasped in varied tones.

“You can all -ear me,” the voice broke in the middle but they heard. Keith grit his jaw and frowned deeply. 

“Shiro. Is that really-” Allura started to hope but Keith cut her off.

“Stop. Black grabbed the pod. It’s obviously NotShiro. He must have gotten out.”

There was silence on the line then Shiro’s voice replied, “I don’t have time to explain. We need Voltron. The Lions can’t form up without a Paladin. But we can do this. I know we can.”

“No,” Keith all but snarled. “Get back to the castle. We’ll make a jump out. Coran and I will provide cover fi-”

“Keith,” Shiro’s voice was gentle but firm. “Trust me.”

It sounded so much like him. Keith wanted it to be. He wanted to trust Shiro. But he couldn’t. “So you can get us all killed.” He didn’t really ask.

There was a pause. Black’s video feed wasn’t on but Keith didn’t need it to see Shiro’s pitying expression. He was about demand the others come back again when Shiro spoke softly. “We’re not going to die, Keith. You know why?” He paused but not long enough for anyone to answer before finishing. “Because Lance is too pretty to die. And because you’re too stubborn. But most of all. Because Polka will never die.”

Keith blinked. Everyone missed a beat. Was that- did Shiro just. . . no. No. It couldn’t be. But how would the Glara know about Polka? 

The silence drug on too long as Keith’s brain fell into an infinite loop of hope and disbelief. Shiro’s voice called out again. “If not me then trust your Lions.”

Keith couldn’t bring himself to argue. They didn’t really have much choice. It wasn’t likely they’d escape if they tried to run. So the others fell into formation around the Black Lion and they did it. They formed Voltron.

* * *

Keith waited anxiously in Black’s hangar as the others brought their Lions back in after soundly defeating the Galra threat. One by one the other Paladins joined him. Black took her sweet time coming home so they were all there by the time the largest Lion landed and settled into her spot with a rumbly purr. 

“Don’t open that,” Keith called up to her before she managed to lower her jaw and let who or whatever was inside get out. She listened to him for once. Or maybe she was just doing it on her own. That sounds more like it. Either way, the damn cat didn’t let NotShiro out.

“What the fuck happened out there?” Keith turned on the others once he was satisfied the Lion wasn’t going to open.

“I don’t know, Keith.” Lance answered first with a wide shrug. “It just felt like Shiro. I can’t really explain it.” That did not help.

“You know I hate to use feelings to explain anything but I felt it too,” Pidge just made it worse.

“Y-yeah. Me too,” Hunk agreed but at least he had the decency to do it apologetically.

“I think it really is Shiro, Keith,” Allura had never been willing to believe.

“Whatever.” Keith drew his bayard and formed the sword. “If he attacks again I’m going to cut off more than an arm this time.”

“Keith-” Lance tried to reason but Keith wasn’t having it.

“At least get your weapons out.” He tried not to growl at them but was only marginally successful. “We don’t know what’s going to happen when she opens that hatch.”

The others hesitated with varying degrees of discomfort and reluctance but all complied, reluctantly pulling their bayards and watching as the Black Lion slowly lowered her head to rest against the floor, opening her jaws. Everyone tensed. It was palpable.

Keith wasn’t sure what he expected to walk out of there but it wasn’t _two_ Shiros. Of course that’s exactly what he got. It was that kind of day.

The other Paladins gaped as two nearly identical men walked out of the Black Lion. Both missing metal arms. Both dressed in the skin tight undersuit of the Black Paladin’s armor. Lance didn’t know which one to put his gun on and kept switching between the two as they walked down the ramp. Keith narrowed his eyes and pushed the barrel to the one on the left after just a few seconds of study. He could tell. He wasn’t sure the right one was real but he was closer at least. 

Both Shiros stopped for Keith’s decision. The left one looked crestfallen but the right gave him a pitying smile. One Keith knew so well. The other Paladins weren’t sure what to make of this and started getting antsy. Hunk was about to cry and Allura looked two seconds from taking charge. Keith knew he had to do something fast before he lost control of this situation. Not that he was ever in control.

“Stop!” Keith barked though the Shiros already weren’t moving. He paused a moment to look them both over, holding back a hand to keep the others quiet. _Just ask questions only Shiro would know_. Lance’s voice ran ubidden through Keith’s head and he grit his jaw trying to think of something. He really did not want to get into personal subjects with the others there but was also pretty sure Lance would not let him live it down if he used any more super nerd references. Unfortunately all Keith’s sleep deprived brain could come up with was fucking embarrassing. Might as well go for it. 

“You must answer me this question,” Keith lilted the words a little in almost an Altean accent (well, what a Galra would consider Altean at least). “What-” he cut for a dramatic pause then finished, “Is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?”

Pidge choked on a laugh and Keith was pretty sure Hunk sighed but it worked. The left Shiro looked confused. The one on the right rolled his eyes with a fond little smile and answered on script.

“What do you mean? An African or European swallow?”

Keith was too busy controlling himself from, well he wasn’t quite sure. Breaking down into a sobbing mess out of relief. Murdering the imposter that didn’t recognize the quote. Or punching Shiro in his stupid face cuz What the actual Fuck, man? Whatever the case, he was quiet so Pidge chimed in with a barely restrained giggle.

“How do you know so much about swallows?”

The right Shiro’s smile turned a little coy as he carefully stepped closer. “Well, you have to know these things when you're a king, you know.”

Pidge cracked up laughing and even Hunk huffed a few nervous chuckles as Lance lowered his gun. 

“I don’t understand. King?” Allura looked between them all, confused. “He didn’t actually answer the question.” 

“More Earth. . . uh. Mythology,” Lance used Pidge’s earlier explanation just in time for Keith to pull himself out of the shock.

“On the ground!” Keith snapped at NotShiro, pushing Lance’s gun back on him with a hard glare. NotShiro flinched for it and looked lost but RealShiro stepped between them, protecting the other man.

“Keith,” Shiro used his Dad voice. “Patience. It’s not his fault.”

“Not his-” Keith cut himself off with a frustrated sound then turned his glare on Shiro. “Where the fuck have you been?”

Shiro’s expression clouded with the familiar disappointment he always wore when Keith lost his temper. Luckily he did not follow it with a lecture. Keith probably would have decided on that punch if he had. Instead Shiro took a deep breath and looked over the others briefly before settling back on Keith and explained.

“After the fight with Zarkon I blacked out. When I woke up I found myself trapped in the Astral Plane. I didn’t know what happened until today. All I knew was the Black Lion had stopped listening to me. She shut me out. I couldn’t get back. I tried. For weeks. Months. Nothing I tried did anything. Until today. When you all figured it out.” He paused to give each of the others a gracious smile. “My arm had the same control mechanism you discovered. Haggar activated it at the end of the fight. That’s why I blacked out. She took control. But the Black Lion realised it. So she sent me somewhere I couldn’t do any harm. Somewhere safe so even Haggar couldn’t reach me. She was protecting me. But she didn’t know how Haggar had taken control. So she kept me there. Until you figured it out.” He lifted his stump at them to finish the story without going into gory details.

“Ok. That explains you.” Keith decided not to pick apart the story just yet. He was too tired for this and there was still the other problem. “But what about him?” He pointed his sword at NotShiro who leaned away from it.

Shiro glanced back and frowned slightly at the look on NotShiro’s face. He was confused, worried, and starting to edge on guilt. Shiro shook his head and turned back to the team. “If the Black Lion hadn’t locked me in the Astral Plane I would have given her to Zarkon and become Haggar’s pet. I nearly did. If they had the same control of him then you can’t blame him for what they made him do.”

“How can you trust him? You don’t even know-” Keith started to argue but Shiro cut him off.

“She does.” Shiro tilted his head up at the Black Lion which rumbled a brief purring sound for the acknowledgement. Keith faltered then shook his head.

“She wouldn’t let him touch her.”

Shiro just gave him a warm little smile. “He still had the arm.”

“You’re just going to accept that?” Keith huffed. “We don’t even know what he is.”

“He is my brother,” Shiro said it firmly then turned to NotShiro with a gentle expression. “If he wants to be.”

NotShiro blinked and just stared. Keith did much the same. Hunk stepped up. “Uhm. Ok. That’s real sweet and all but Keith has a point-”

“Thank you.” Keith came out of his shock enough to gasp.

Hunk flashed him a quick smile then went on, “We don’t know anything about him. For all we know he’s got a secondary control module that could activate any minute. Or a bomb. Or he could be a highly trained sleeper agent just waiting for a code word that will set him off. We don’t know.”

Shiro took a moment to consider that but after a while he just shook his head and told them, “You don’t really know any of that about me either.”

“That isn’t funny.” Keith snapped but Shiro just turned to him with calm understanding.

“I’ve been watching, Keith.” He spoke gently. “It took a while to figure out but if I tried hard enough I could see what the Black Lion sees. Hear what she hears. Feel what she feels. By the time she found him I had learned to see beyond her into the rest of the castle. I didn’t have anything better to do and, like you are now, I was worried. I knew he wasn’t me. So I watched him.”

They all looked a little uncomfortable for that but then Pidge had cameras so the whole concept of privacy was already shot. Keith recovered first and took a step closer to not ask. “So you know what he did.”

Shiro nodded. “He did what I would have done if I’d not been raised better.”

Keith blinked for that. What? He gave Shiro a confused look then glanced back at the others. They all were surprised. They all put Shiro on a pedestal.

“I wasn’t born a paragon of leadership.” Shiro said it with a little smile, a sense of humor. He let it hang just a moment before turning serious again. “I had to learn that. If everything he knows came from my experiences after receiving the Galra arm then he wouldn’t have the lessons my father taught me about honor and discipline. Or my grandfather’s sense of justice and compassion. He wouldn’t know my mother’s manners or my grandmother’s patience. Just like he doesn’t get Star Wars references or speak Klingon.”

“You. . . ah. Saw that?” Keith inwardly cringed and just hoped he wasn’t blushing.

“I see everything.” Shiro practically smirked then added. “What kind of a Dad would I be if I didn’t?”

Pidge sucked in a gasp for that then threw herself at Shiro with a squealed, “Space Dad!”

They collided into a spinning hug which got a little “Awwww” out of Hunk as he stepped up to join in, dragging Lance with him. For a moment it seemed like the conflict was solved. Shiro was back and everyone could be happy. But there was still that little problem of NotShiro lingering dejectedly in the background. He’d been smart enough not to say or do anything that would draw attention while Shiro defended him but Keith wasn’t just going to forget he existed.

“He stole your identity!” Keith stepped up with an accusation to bring the conversation back on track.

Shiro gave him that disappointed look again and pulled away from the others. They reluctantly stepped back as Shiro spoke in a calm voice. “Haggar stole my identity, Keith. He truly thought it was his.”

Keith grit his jaw and forced himself to ignore how Lance was practically mouthing for him to drop it. But this was important. “How do you know that?”

“Because the Lions know our minds, Keith. And Black trusts him. Now that we know what he is.”

“What _is_ he then?” Keith tried not to sound petulant about it. He failed.

Shiro gave him a gentle smile and spared a glance back to the imposter in question before answering with a little sigh. “A Galra engineered clone with implanted memories.”

“Ha!” Lance jumped with a fist pump. “I was right. Take that science.” He jabbed a finger in Pidge’s face as if she were the living embodiment of science. She waved him off with a glare. 

“Ok, but-” Pidge paused to push up her glasses with one hand, using the other to casually reach out and electrocute Lance with her bayard so he would stop gloating. Once he was done screaming she continued. “I think the more important question is: What’s up with that scar?” She tactfully pointed at Shiro’s crotch just in case the question wasn’t clear.

Keith choked and turned the color of his jacket. Even Shiro blushed a little though managed to laugh it off with a shrug. “It’s a. . . um.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair and hesitated to explain.

“Don’t you dare.” Keith threatened with a warning look when Shiro glanced to him for help.

“It’s a bad idea we had a few months before I left for Kerberos.” Shiro dared but that must not have been the whole story because Keith didn’t kill him for it. 

“So. What was the idea?” Pidge just couldn’t leave this alone.

“Tattoos!” Keith blurted out to keep Shiro from answering and immediately regretted it.

“Uh. Hate to break it to you, buddy. But that’s not how tattoos are made.” Hunk ever so delicately pointed out.

Keith glared at him. “I know. But I was under age so we couldn’t go to a parlor and we’re not allowed to have tattoos at the Garrison anyway so. . .” He trailed off with a tense shrug, mind scrambling for some excuse to change the subject. He half wished NotShiro would go yellow eye crazy again just to save him from this. But of course that was not his luck. Quite the opposite. Allura and Coran were taking this distraction to quietly lead a still very confused NotShiro out of the hangar. Keith was about to say something about that when Pidge cut in.

“Ok that kind of explains the location but. . . _Why_?”

Keith cringed for the question and somehow managed to blush even more then soundly clammed up so Shiro answered for him. “We’d watched a documentary about WWII and it mentioned that soldiers used to get matching tattoos for their unit and. . . uh. . . it seemed like a good idea at the time?” He couldn’t keep that last part from sounding like a question.

“You were drunk. Weren’t you.” Pidge did not let it be a question. Shiro blushed and neither confirmed nor denied. Keith bit his tongue to keep from correcting her. The truth was so much worse. Thankfully Lance’s curiosity made a distraction.

“How did you even do it?” Unfortunately it wasn’t a good one.

Keith frowned and looked away but Shiro leapt at the change of subject. “We put Keith’s keychain into the fire and used that.” 

“Wait.” Pidge drawled in a way that will come to haunt Keith’s dreams if he ever gets to sleep again. A way that meant she’d just put embarrassing details together. “Keith’s keychain? The same one he has his hoverbike keys on?” Yep. There it is. Goodbye dignity.

“You still have it?” Shiro asked with a fond surprise. Of course Keith still had it. Shiro gave it to him.

“Please don’t,” were the only words Keith could breathlessly squeak out. He knew what was coming.

“Oh. My. God,” Pidge cackled. “How did I not recognize it? I mean. It’s in negative of course. And kinda sideways. But. Oh. My. God. Keith. You have the Autobots symbol branded on your crotch!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the semi-cop out ending. I just had to get it done or else this would go on forever and a punchline seemed a good place to end it.
> 
> Someday I might write a little bonus of the full story behind Keith and Shiro's scars. Spoiler: Keith misidentified some plants.

**Author's Note:**

> I now have one of those tumblr things so come chat with me there if you want a more casual rambling space.
> 
> **[umbraja.tumblr.com](https://umbraja.tumblr.com/) **
> 
> Also, please leave a comment if you liked this. I always default to thinking my stuff sucks so it really helps to keep me going when y'all leave comments.
> 
> Feel free to tell if it sucked too. I appreciate all feedback. Can't get better if I don't know what's wrong.


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